As feedback was suggested in the latest news, I want to share some regarding the situation of the controversial US top tier and some general assassments. Since I started playing War Thunder three years ago, there has always been a discussion about win rates and possible underpowering of american vehicles. Nonetheless, its the nation I was able to get a nearly complete tech tree with. Some time ago, I already did a post about some general points, which I want to specify now. I really hope that these will get some attention in the developement team. Although the topic is very present in the forums, most of the times it gets irrelevant, going into arguments about skill issues, russian bias and even insulting others. Please, be factual and respect other opinions - Personal skill isnt the point of this post, it should be clear that top nations like the US, UDSSR and Germany do have the most inexperienced players in their premiums in top tier battles. With that out of the way, lets begin with the recent problem.
The Abrams, DU Hull and M829A3
While the M1 Series are definitely great allrounders, even able to shoot down helicopters with the HEAT, their master of none characteristics dont really hold a great place in the game in my opinion. Since they are a driving weakspot, besides the turret cheeks, the playstyle is limited to fast early game positioning and staying hull down. This would be good if War Thunder would be a Tower Defense game, but since you need to capture points in order to win, you cant stay in your spot all the time. The problem is the lack of initiative. If the enemy is charging forward, you can get some good games, but if they are playing their cards correctly, you cant do much about it. Your armour is too weak to play offensive, your ammo isnt strong enough to kill besides enemy weakspots, your mobility, although great for an MBT, is too dependend on maps and enemy positioning. You have to rely on others, like sweden, germany or russia, to make the big plays, since their armour is decent enough to take a punch.
Since the DU Armour was already rejected by Gaijin, I dont want to get too long into that. The reason behind the decision is understandable, even though the turret ring of the tank is still too weak imho. Besides that, I dont think that the armour of the tank is the problem, we already have tanks with better armour in other nations, even if the M1 would get a better turret ring or the DU hull.
Whats more concerning for me is the lack of the proper ammunition, which was rejected too because other nations dont have an equivalent to it. Yes, the penetration of the round is better and would make Kontakt 5 in the hull irrelevant, while it shouldnt be able to penetrate Relic on the newer russian models. So basically, you would be able to defeat russian tanks that are already placed under your 11.7 BR easier, to say the least, exactly as easy as they can defeat you, since they just can shoot anywhere besides the cheeks to penetrate you.
The introduction of this round, even only on the SEPV2, could give it a place in the lineup. Currently, im researching helicopters with the ground FP, cause there is simply no point to get the SEPV2. It would strengthen the offensive capability of the tank, since it would get the strongest round (besides the Object 292, which has the strongest dart anyway…?). It could lead to a better, offensive tank, especially with the recent reload buff, which was a bit over the top for me and could be nerfed if the M1s should be to strong with it.
The Anti Air Dilemma
One of the most obvious problems at 11.0+ is the anti air. And here, the US especially suffers for several reasons: If you dont spawn into the ADATS in first, its 200+ spawn points after you died in your first vehicle, compared to 70 points for any anti air. While the platform is decent, it lacks range and is too expensive to spawn. As the Roland is borderline useless against anything thats moving faster than 200 kmh, you have to rely on short range stingers with the LAV-AD, a great, mobile vehicle if the enemy gets closer to you and a monster tank killer from the side - for 70 Spawn Points!
But there is more to fix: The obvious, short time solution would be to move the ADATS to the Anti Air Spawn Points, so players can get it more often. America isnt the only nation with a lack of long range anti air - Its basically every nation besides russia, with the Pantsir S1. No other nation is able to field something comparable (which is the cause for players being a bit confused about not introducing M829A3 for that reason). In the name of all the other nations: The Pantsir needs to cost more in the short run, and in the long run, nations need to get long range anti air. Im aware of the problem that systems like patriot, S300, IRIS-T etc need several vehicles to function properly, although I dont see a problem in just driving around in the launching vehicle, which would take like half a minute to deploy. They wouldnt be able to target low flying aircraft and helis. You could even test it in an event like before, but with more advanced ammunitions (like the missiles of the SU25SM3) aircraft becomes literally untouchable. Especially when paired with the pantsir, so you cant even defend with aircraft. And with the tendency of top tier maps getting bigger (which is really good for the gameplay), its not that unrealistic to shoot anti air missiles from patriots.
The Apache and the 114L Hellfire
A bit of a sidenote and definitly not the main problem in the american lineup, but something thats just unfair - The AH64D needs to get its fire-and-forget hellfire missiles. There are even more advanced variants with extended range, which would be overkill. But since many nations do have fire-and-forget SPIKE Missiles, there is simply no point of not taking advantage of the longbow radar, the range would still be limited to 8 km compared to 10 km vikhrs. Its a feature that one of the most advanced helicopters in the world clearly misses and which makes it clearly worse compared to extended range (10km) or fire-and-forget helis.
Well, that took a bit long. Some closing thoughts: I dont wanna say that other nations dont have problems, its just not part of that topic and as an american main, Im just more aware of difficulties Im facing in my own games. Furthermore, the communication with the community is way better since the boycott last year, so thank you for that. It encourages players to give feedback and I hope that some of the things I mentioned above will get sorted out or even considered to change.
